A few days later, Kurt opened the door to find a soaking, shivering Blaine with a rather large bruise covering the side of his face.

"Holy shit," Kurt breathed, ushering the shaking boy inside quickly.

As they entered the house, he could make out the extent of the damage. Besides the obvious purple bruising, Blaine's top lip was split and there were remnants of blood. The still pouring rain had made his hair frizz and his clothing was plastered to him.

"S-sorry," Blaine whispered, eyes staring at the floor as he tried to sniff back tears.

"Don't ever be sorry," Kurt replied almost automatically, used to Blaine apologizing for things that weren't his fault.

He grabbed a towel swiftly, running it over Blaine's hair with as much care as possible and then attempting to dry off his shirt.

Blaine hissed as Kurt accidentally touched what had to be another bruise.

"Oh, baby," Kurt murmured, concern coloring his face, "Let's get you cleaned up."

Blaine merely nodded silently, teeth still chattering as Kurt ran to find a sweatshirt for him.

"Here, put this on," he instructed, handing it to Blaine.

Blaine moved mechanically, not bothering to move from his spot as he peeled off his rain-soaked shirt and pulled the sweatshirt on.

Kurt tried not to let out a gasp as he saw the large bruise that was splotched down Blaine's side, instead moving to grab a blanket. Wrapping it around the shivering boy gently, he led him to the couch before grabbing a wet towel.

He sat down next to Blaine, bringing the towel slowly to his bloody face, attempting to clean it.

Blaine hissed again, eyes closing.

"Blaine, what happened?" Kurt whispered, fingers lightly tracing the uninjured side of Blaine's face.

"My dad told me not to see you again," he replied quietly, finally opening his eyes to look at Kurt.

"And then what?" Kurt prompted.

"And I said I couldn't do that."

"Oh, Blaine," Kurt sighed as he pulled the boy towards him.

"He- he hasn't done this in a long time," Blaine said softly, tears still making their way down his face.

"You don't deserve this," Kurt muttered as his hand ran soothingly through Blaine's curls.

"No!" Kurt replied sharply, causing Blaine's head to snap up.

"You do not deserve this. You are the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful man I know and you should not be treated like this!" Kurt continued vehemently.

There was a pause before Blaine replied, sighing, "I think I'm in love with you," barely aware that he had said the words aloud.

"I think I'm in love with you too," responded Kurt without a moment's hesitation, making Blaine's eyes widen as Kurt pressed a kiss to his uninjured cheek.

The two sat in silence for a minute, merely staring at each other.

"Stay here," Kurt said suddenly.

"What?"

"For the rest of break. I know it's only a few days, but you shouldn't go home to that. Stay here."

"...Really?" Blaine asked, eyes searching Kurt's as if looking for the punch line.

"I won't even make you sleep on the couch," Kurt said with a soft laugh.

"I'm going to kiss you so much when my face isn't all busted up," Blaine replied, a smile finally making its way to his face.

"That'd better be a promise."